The Land Of Legends

The Land-of-Legends project aims to revitalize the art of storytelling in Kronoberg, a region of southern Sweden. Among the wonders, you can find are trolls' mountains, giants' rocks, holy springs and the waters of the Necken, dragons' treasures and magic trees, places of tragic death, and haunted country manors. Throughout this magical landscape in Sweden, there are many hidden tales waiting to be discovered.

In Smaland's southwest, many of Sweden's traditional oral tales were first written down, especially in the Kronoberg region in southern Sweden which is known for its long and strong storytelling tradition. Many legendary places can be found nearby because storytellers and collectors flocked to the area.

The Land-Of-Legends (Sagobygden) was founded in the municipalities of Ljungby, Alvesta, and Almhult, a safeguarding program that has grown ever since. In Kronoberg, which is home to imagination-stimulating forests, an NGO operates The Land of Legends.

Legends have been passed down about troll mountains, sacred springs, dragon treasures, magical trees, and haunted manor houses. For generations, these fantastic tales and legends have amused and scared people. These stories are transmitted from generation to generation by word of mouth, and this tradition continues to this day.

In the Land of Legends, verbal storytelling still continues. Sweden, like elsewhere, has had to deal with factors such as industrialization, urbanization, and television and social media that have led to the disappearance of traditional venues for storytelling and modes of transmission, including the dying out of the practice of telling stories to convey experiences, knowledge, and values.

As early as the late 1980s, a number of librarians and teachers in the Kronoberg region organized a festival that brought together practitioners, enthusiasts, and experts from all over Sweden to discuss this issue and devise possible solutions. Following this, in November 1990, the Storytelling Network of Kronoberg (also known as "the Association") was established to raise awareness about the endangered viability of storytelling and to develop measures to revitalize it.

As an initiative of the Association, the Land-of-Legends program organizes a variety of activities such as a storytelling festival, teen camps, school and university programs, teacher training courses, and remedial courses. The program has become more international over time, and several aspects have been used as a model for other programs. By connecting storytelling to other forms of living heritage, the program revitalises and promotes storytelling as living art.